Thursday, 8 April 2010

Kick-Ass is the film based on Mark Millar's comic and directed by Matthew Vaughn (who has worked with Guy Ritchie on Lock Stock). The plot deals with Dave, a high school geek who decides to put on a superhero costume and go out fighting crime, despite the fact he has no super powers. At the same time we meet Big Daddy, an ex-cop with a vengeance gig against evil drug lord Frank D'Amico, who has trained his 11 year-old daughter to become the vigilante Hit Girl.

Kick Ass is daft, frequently violent and never less than breathtakingly funny. From the moment that Hit Girl is introduced to the stunned audience (yep, with some very crude swearing that just somehow *works*, which surprises me given my post on profanity), to the entertaining use of a bazooker; from Red Mist's hair to the sweet relationship that develops between Dave and Katie thanks to her belief that he is gay - it is just a very funny film. I found myself smiling with delight at many of the fight scenes, and the sharp dialogue.

The plot was a little episodic at points, and suffered from a few lulls that will be much more noticeable on a second watch. Chloe Grace Moretz steals every scene she is in, and I did find myself waiting for her to return to the screen whenever she was absent. There were also a couple of rather shocking moments - I am not talking about the fight scenes (which were brutal, but suitably comic book-like) or the swearing (which fit with the type of film this is); rather it was an incident with a knife early in the career of Kick Ass. It was realistic, out of the blue and made my jaw hang - probably in a good way, since I really did not see it coming. It did make me a little uncomfortable, but that is a personal matter rather than a fault with the film itself.

Overall, Kick Ass provided a fantastic blend of action and comedy, showing a genuine flair and appreciation of comic books. I enjoyed the soundtrack and felt most of the songs contributed to the film perfectly. It was delightfully rude, extremely sassy and provided us with a fabulous new and tiny heroine in the form of Hit Girl. In my opinion, a piece of must-see cinema!

Fantastic film. As you say, very shocking in places and I really loved the relationship between Hitgirl and Big Daddy. It was actually more touching than I had expected, and to be fair, I didn't think it was just Nicolas Cage playing Nicolas Cage which he can sometimes suffer from in some movies. I actually believed his character cared very much about his daughter, despite their very unusual relationship. The best line for me was also from Chloe Moretz about how to get in touch with her (I won't spoil it) but it made me howl. Comic does differ in some places, but it's not a major departure in any way.